Allen flies to new Super2 first

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 9 July 2023

The good times keep on rolling for Kai Allen who was the sixth different pole sitter in as many Dunlop Series races at Townsville.

On a high after scoring his maiden Super2 race win on Saturday, Allen has now ticked a pole position in the category having been the one-lap king of Super3 last year.

The Mount Gambier based 18-year-old did it with a 1:13.8250, which was 0.16s faster than Zak Best.

In Super3 Cameron McLeod was once again on fire, taking pole and finishing seventh overall.

Allen was fast straight out of the gates and was thrilled to snare P1, but hopes some brake issues surfaced during Saturday’s win will disappear.

“It was a really good lap and pretty cool to get a pole,” he said.

“I struggled in qualifying a bit yesterday with a bit of front so we tuned it up.

“The car was fine then, but halfway through the race yesterday the pedal started to get closer and closer to the firewall which was a bit scary but we managed it.

“Hopefully we can fix it and have another good race.”

All cars started the session on fresh green rubber Allen was the fastest of the early runners with a 1:14.3343, but none of the Super2 cars could topple McLeod’s 1:14.2483.

On the second tour the Eggleston Motorsport cars found their speed with Allen improving his lead by half a second.

His 1:13.8250 was a strong early benchmark with teammate Cooper Murray right behind until Best split the Eggleston cars at the top of the leaderboard.

But Allen still enjoyed a strong three-tenth advantage as he dived into the pits, while Best closed the margin down to a single tenth.

After the first seven minutes Allen, Best, Aaron Love and Murray were the only Super2 cars faster than McLeod.

As the leaders spent the final minutes in the pits, Zane Morse and Jay Hanson both set purple first sectors, but could not challenge Allen.

Morse initially jumped to third before he was usurped by Brad Vaughan.

Allen is the only Holden starting in the top five with Best, Vaughan, Morse and Love filling up the rest of the top five.

Super3

Cam McLeod was once again on another level in Super3 qualifying. Image: Mark Horsburgh

Cameron McLeod flew to another dominant Super3 pole position on the streets of Townsville.

For the second day in a row, McLeod was in a league of his own in the Super3 stakes, with his 1:14.2483 nine tenths better than the rest.

His championship rival Jobe Stewart was second, but will be 11 spots away on the grid missed up with Super2 cars.

Stewart prevailed after a breed battle with Jett Johnson for second, while Ryan Gilroy and Chris Smerdon made up the minor places.

But the session was all about McLeod, who went four tenths better than his impressive one-lap effort on Saturday to take a fifth pole of 2023.

Although he suffered a lock up at the final corner of his first lap, McLeod was thrilled to maximise the pace on offer from the #92 Nissan Altima.

“It was a good lap,” he said.

“I knew what I had to do from yesterday and locked the rears in the final corner on my first lap.

“I then gave it all in the next few laps and I was pretty happy with the result.”

Despite a moment at the final corner, McLeod enjoyed a healthy advantage after the first flying laps.

He was the first into the 1:14s and was half a second ahead of Johnson as Stewart could only manage fourth initially.

McLeod kept going faster improving the marker to a 1:14.2483 to build a full second lead and effectively wrap up pole.

Stewart improved to snatch second from Johnson with his fourth lap, which was still nine tenths away from the ultimate pace.

The second and final Dunlop Series race at Townsville is at 13.15 AEST.

Supercars Townsville 500 Schedule (AEST)

Friday

Practice 1 – 10:10 – 10:40 – P1: Brown 1:13.970, P2: Hazelwood +0.220, P3: SVG +0.278

Practice 2 – 14:45 – 15:15 – P1: Le Brocq 1:13.432, P2: Fullwood +0247, P3: Waters +0.332

Saturday

Qualifying: Race 16 – 10:15 – 10:30 – P1: Waters 1:13.320, P2: Payne +0.144, P3: Brown +0.145

Top Ten Shootout – 1200 – 12:30 – P1: Brown 1:13.945, P2: Reynolds +0.050, P3: Waters +0.062

Race 16 – 1440 – 1650

Sunday

Qualifying: Race 17 – 10:15 – 10:30

Top Ten Shootout – 1200 – 12:30

Race 17 – 1440-1650

Download the full Supercars Townsville Round 6 Event Guide with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus our extensive driver profiles HERE

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.

Auto Action, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.

PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!

Shane van Gisbergen went to Chicago to have some fun and a job interview. He had fun, won and aced the job interview. Andrew Clarke was there for the historic win, and Bruce Williams and Paul Gover dig into the significance of it all with Clarke.

Then we look Supercars and the parity war, what changes are coming? Then F1, which needs more changes than any Motorsport on the planet.

Listen on your podcast app of choice or here on the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast.

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